


Too Much Purple Light

by tsurai



Series: Infinity Complex [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Power Gem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 13:44:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2070435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsurai/pseuds/tsurai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>What do you want, Peter Quill?</i> he hears, not in words, but in the weight of feelings rushing over and pressing down. He feels the weight like the eye of an angry god set on him.</p><p>[In which the Power Stone decides it likes him.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Much Purple Light

Drax shoots Ronan’s hammer, and Peter knows that it’s now or never. He lunges, pushing all the power and speed over two decades with the Reavers has instilled in him – he barely makes it, and Ronan’s fingers brush the back of his hand as his grip tightens. Then he almost wishes he hadn’t. Peter hears someone scream, “No!” and it’s Gamora, and oh. Oh.

There’s something wrong

The gem burns through him, pushing at seams he didn’t know existed until this moment. This moment lasts forever. The agony ascends in waves, up his arm and chest out through his skin until bursts of purple light explode into the air around him, but Peter doesn’t see. All he can focus on is the pain, the pain worse than a thousand nights where he’s woken up sweaty and screaming to drown out the sound of his mother’s last words. The gem is reaching questing inward as well as out until the tendrils reach his heart. One second turns into perfect stillness where Peter floats, free of his body in the surrounds of space and the light of far galaxies shining through him.

 _What do you want, Peter Quill?_ he hears, not in words, but in the weight of feelings rushing over and pressing down. He feels the weight like the eye of an angry god set on him.

 _Save them,_ he thinks back, as hard as he can though he has not lips or teeth or tongue to speak with. _Gotta save my friends, this planet. Gotta stop Ronan from killing more innocent people_.

 _And then?_ reverberates through him, scattering his mind as if he’s less than a breath of air in the vacuum of space.

It takes everything he has in reserve to pull himself together, just a little bit, but he can’t think, can’t breathe. _I’ll figure it out when this is over_.

He hears, as if far in the distance, “Peter, take my hand!”

There is amusement, then, and a rumbling, _Oh, we like you, Peter Quill_. Then there is power, toomuchpowerhecan’thandlethisalone so he reaches for Gamora and shares the burgeoning light. Then Drax grabs hold, and he can feel Rocket on the other end, spreading the light among them but it’s still too much and he can’t share any more because Groot is _dead_ and he can’t let the gem overwhelm the friends he has come to care so much about these last few days.

So he calls Ronan a bitch and kills him, and Gamora slams the containment sphere over the gem and it feels like she’s cut off his hand and ripped out his spine all in one go, such _loss_ does Peter feel. But it’s okay, it’s just the gem and it was killing him, killing them. He pulls himself together just long enough to pull the old switcheroo on Yondu, and is _so_ glad he does because he just knows the man is going to open it – as a kid Peter emulated his insatiable curiosity – and hopes the troll doll will be gesture enough to spare him the Whistle next time they inevitably meet.

Peter lets Gamora keep the orb to give to Nova Prime. He just…keeping it would lead to something he doesn’t want to think about right now. With little coaxing he turns to follow Corpsman Dey and the sight of Milano, newer and shinier than it was the day Yondu gave it to him, fills him up with inexplicable joy and relief. Because he did it, _they_ did it – saved the galaxy, if not the universe – and now they can do anything.

“So, what should we do next? Something good or something bad?” With them, he would be happy to do anything.

“We’ll follow your lead, Star-Lord,” Gamora says, smiling wide and bright and beautiful. In his little pot, a tiny Groot stretches and yawns in its position on Rocket’s lap. Behind them, Drax is nearly buzzing in excitement.

“A bit of both!”

-

That night his sleep is deep, and Peter wakes feeling whole, buzzing with contentment. And with a dull purple glow on the shelf by his bedside. He shoots up, nearly braining himself on the ledge above him. “What the f-”

It’s the gem – the gem that they left on Nova, in a sealed container locked in high security in Prime’s office – sitting nonchalantly next to him as if an object with the power to destroy worlds had every right to be lying next to the earpiece of his mask, the bottle of water, and the pain meds he’d taken to bed with him. Next to the paraphernalia of normal life it looked almost as if it belonged, just another one of the possessions he’d picked up over the years. Except for, you know, the infinite power and warm hum that washes over him like a wave.

 _We said we liked you, Peter Quill_ , the gem says, just a whisper this time. Not knowing quite what he’s doing, Peter reaches out with a finger, brushing the surface. There is no pain, no nebulous lightshow. Just a small pulse of light and the gem disappears as if winking out of existence.

Except not really, because he can still feel the warmth of it under his skin, creeping out from his chest and suffusing his bones. Peter stills, torn between a point of serenity and utter, blinding panic.

 _Now_ , the gem purrs inside his head. _Let us seek my brothers. I think they’ll like you too._

**Author's Note:**

> So the movie was freaking awesome! This is an idea that came to mind almost as soon as the climactic fight scene started. I may expand on it later.
> 
> Get updates or follow my writing [here](http://tsuraiwrites.tumblr.com).


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